By Elizabeth Hanink
Do you feel like you aren't getting anywhere with your career? Perhaps you are unemployed or think you could do more challenging work. Maybe you think that it is too late to succeed.
Many famous people actually succeeded much later in life than you imagine. Often their success came after years of disappointment, distraction and outright failure. Take, for instance, Colonel Sanders of fried chicken fame. He was over 65 and broke when he began his secret recipe success.
Winston Churchill had experienced 12 years in political exile when he was asked to lead England during World War II. He was banished again after the war was over but went on to write successful books and serve as an elder statesman until his death.
Or consider Grandma Moses, America’s most beloved primitive painter whose work sells well into the millions. She never went to art school and only started painting when she became too old and too crippled by arthritis to do farm work. Her success came in her 90s.
What do all these people have in common? They believed in themselves, and they didn’t give up. They learn from failure, and they handle it well. If one goal is unachievable — and it might be today — they continue to try and make it happen in the future or they set a new goal and go after it.
Colonel Sanders lost his restaurant and gas station when the rail company planned a route that bypassed his town. So he shifted gears and set a new goal. The rest is history.
Do you feel like you aren't getting anywhere with your career? Perhaps you are unemployed or think you could do more challenging work. Maybe you think that it is too late to succeed.
Many famous people actually succeeded much later in life than you imagine. Often their success came after years of disappointment, distraction and outright failure. Take, for instance, Colonel Sanders of fried chicken fame. He was over 65 and broke when he began his secret recipe success.
Winston Churchill had experienced 12 years in political exile when he was asked to lead England during World War II. He was banished again after the war was over but went on to write successful books and serve as an elder statesman until his death.
Or consider Grandma Moses, America’s most beloved primitive painter whose work sells well into the millions. She never went to art school and only started painting when she became too old and too crippled by arthritis to do farm work. Her success came in her 90s.
What do all these people have in common? They believed in themselves, and they didn’t give up. They learn from failure, and they handle it well. If one goal is unachievable — and it might be today — they continue to try and make it happen in the future or they set a new goal and go after it.
Colonel Sanders lost his restaurant and gas station when the rail company planned a route that bypassed his town. So he shifted gears and set a new goal. The rest is history.
